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National Geographic

Family travel with kids around the world. Visiting new places, cultures and immersing in new adventures, National Geographic Family Expeditions, Journeys,

Family travel and exploring are two of my favorite things to do. In fact, if I could do anything in the world, it would be to show my children every square inch of the world introducing them to as many people, cultures, languages and lands as time would allow.

I believe that the key to being a good person is being a good citizen of the world and embracing and appreciating the differences in people and places, all the while remembering that at our core, we are all human beings; that is our shared experience and it all begins with family travel.

Family travel, travel with kids around the world. Visiting new places, cultures and immersing in new adventures, National Geographic Family Expeditions, Journeys,

This is the only tie we need to bond us to one another; humanity. It has nothing to do with where we were born, what we eat, what language we speak, our religion, who we love or what we believe. It has everything to do with decency, respect and human kindness. I feel it is my duty to instill this virtue in my children but there is only so much I can do from my neighborhood.

Family travel, travel with kids around the world. Visiting new places, cultures and immersing in new adventures, National Geographic Family Expeditions, Journeys,

Like you, I teach my children that they need to respect themselves and those they encounter in the world but, right now, their world is still pretty small. It’s home, school, ballet, gymnastics, church and repeat. It’s quite the little bubble.

Family travel takes us out of our bubble and that’s good.

I’ve realized that the more we travel, the bigger their scope for human understanding becomes and in turn the way they move through this world. I see them grow with each travel destination we visit. I see curiosity for knowledge of others growing inside them. I encourage them to go be a part of it, to interact and have new experiences. I demand that we have adventures because I don’t want my children growing up as bystanders in their own lives.

Family travel, travel with kids around the world. Visiting new places, cultures and immersing in new adventures, National Geographic Family Expeditions, Journeys,

I want to inspire my girls to spread their wings and venture outside of our comfort zone. Don’t get me wrong, I love 5-star hotels as much as the next person but there is a part of me that is filled with wanderlust and that part is hungry for adventure. I want to see things I’ve never seen and share those with the Big Guy and my girls. I want us to do it together.

Family travel, travel with kids around the world. Visiting new places, cultures and immersing in new adventures, National Geographic Family Expeditions, Journeys,

I want to be a part of their life adventure so that someday they won’t be afraid to take their children on adventures. I want to not only visit places that are familiar but I want to immerse ourselves in places and cultures unknown. I literally want to give my children the world. As a parent, aside from unconditional love, I think the gift of travel and the perspective it gives, the bravery that comes from unshackling yourself from conventional thinking and inspiring my children to see beyond borders is one of the most important gifts that I can give to them. I want them to explore and learn new things that nature can give. Recently, I learned the best duck call for beginners which I also taught my daughters so we can watch ducks closely and just admire their beauty.

Family travel, travel with kids around the world. Visiting new places, cultures and immersing in new adventures, National Geographic Family Expeditions, Journeys,

On a recent call as a National Geographic ambassador, I was introduced to National Geogrpahic Student expeditions, summer trips for high school students and middle school students. My girls are still too young to travel alone but I like that they’ve put this program together.

More importantly, I was floored by the National Geographic Family Expeditions, Unique Lodges of World and National Geographic Journeys which just launched 70 Adventures because these are completely organized trips that you can take with your family. You choose your dream destination almost anywhere in the world and National Geographic does the rest. Trips range from 7 days to 22 days.

Family travel, travel with kids around the world. Visiting new places, cultures and immersing in new adventures, National Geographic Family Expeditions, Journeys,

I am most excited about the National Geographic Family Expeditions for obvious reasons. What better way to introduce my family to the wonder of world travel then through an unforgettable family expedition?

Family travel, travel with kids around the world. Visiting new places, cultures and immersing in new adventures, National Geographic Family Expeditions, Journeys,

Set out on one of National Geographic’s family trips and experience the magic of discovery and exploration with your whole family. They’ve crafted their family expeditions to inspire and enrich travelers of any age, drawing on their global resources to create experiences in incredible places that are authentic, immersive, and fun. Watch humpback whales breach and kayak into remote fjords in Alaska; spot lions, elephants, giraffes, and more on safari in Tanzania; or go white-water rafting through Costa Rica’s tropical forest. National Geographic’s expedition leaders and local experts enrich your understanding of the culture, wildlife, and natural wonders of each incredible destination, and on many of their family trips, a young explorer leader facilitates fun learning activities for kids. This would be the perfect trip for our family of four to step put of our comfort zone and experience the world fully immersed. Now, I just need to start planning and saving for it.

Family travel, travel with kids around the world. Visiting new places, cultures and immersing in new adventures, National Geographic Family Expeditions, Journeys,

If you want to get your little ones mentally prepared to take a leap outside of their comfort zone and curious for adventure, why not watch some travel documentaries together like Wildest Africa, Wildest Arctic, Wildest Islands, Wildest Latina America, Wildest India and several more to ignite that wanderlust in those little hearts? Or if they are a bit too young for documentaries how about Netflix’s new series that’s packed full of adventure just for the little ones, Dawn of the Croods, now streaming on Netflix.

Where’s your dream family travel destination?

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National Geographic, Kids Cookbook, cooking with kids

It’s Sunday, which in our house means brunch, and a day spent relaxing in our comfy clothes. We look forward to Sunday’s every week because it’s the day we do what we want to do. It’s the one day of the week based solely on our own happiness and not obligations.

The girls have really been into cooking lately, especially my 9-year-old. She loves to help the Big Guy cook anytime he’s in the kitchen. I bake but the Big Guy is a real gourmet. The kid is smart she wants to learn from the best.

Lately, she’s been asking for cookbooks for Christmas and birthdays and any other occasion that will allow her to get into the kitchen. Part of me wants to yell, no, you don’t have to cook just because you are a woman but then I realized, her role model in the kitchen is her dad and honestly, if I’m being a true feminist it’s her choice if she wants to cook or not cook so we’ve been building a small collection of kids cookbooks.

One of our latest cookbook acquisitions has been National Geographic Kids Cook-Book A Year-Round FUN Food Adventure. It is packed full of 12 months of fun recipes for every holiday, occasion and month of the year.

National Geographic, Kids Cookbook, cooking with kids, #NGKInsider

Bella has been begging to cook something out of the book since receiving it, so this morning we let her help with brunch. It was a simple recipe for Sunny-Side up eggs, one of the simplest but for someone who’d never cooked it before, it was a big deal and she cooked it perfectly.

Cooking eggs is something as grown ups that we take for granted because it’s something we feel like we’ve always known how to do, like making toast or boiling tea but it’s not. We had to learn, someone had to show us, at least once. There are lots of things we forget that you have to learn before you know.

So, this morning as my husband made the gravy and biscuits, the girls helped. I watched. Brunch is mostly a Big Guy thing. Then when it was time to make the eggs, I watched as Bella pulled out her National Geographic Kids Cook Book and proudly asked her daddy to teach her and he did what any good daddy could, he taught her how to cook her first ever Sunny-Side up eggs and she was proud as could be with her results. I don’t know if it was the circumstances or the cook, but those were the best damn eggs I’ve ever eaten.

National Geographic, Kids Cookbook, cooking with kids, #NGKInsider

Do your children like to cook?

Well, if they do, I am giving away one copy of the National Geographic Kids Cookbook A Year-Round FUN Food Adventure to one lucky reader. Contest open to readers in the U.S. and ends on November 23 at midnight, EST. All you have to do is leave a comment telling me your favorite thing to cook with your kids.

Disclosure: I am a National Geographic Kids Insider and the book was provided to me free of charge for review purposes. However, all opinions are my own.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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National Geographic, Roku, Streaming stick, Giveaway

Update: The winner of the Roku Streaming Stick is Jessica Escobar. Thanks to everyone for entering.

As many of you know, I’m an ambassador for National Geographic Kids. For a second consecutive term I have been named a Nat Geo Kids Insider! Woohoo for me! Well, tonight that means woohoo for you too!

You already know that National Geographic is an amazing non-profit organization that provides awesome educational books, magazines and toys with amazing photos for our children. My girls truly love and enjoy their National Geographic magazine and books. Well, great news, recently National Geographic launched a channel on Roku, featuring a ton of exciting NGK videos that are perfect for your curious kids.

The new National Geographic channel is a video channel for curious kids and families featuring fun facts, animals and adventure. The subscription channel includes award-winning animated series like Mama Mirabelle, Iggy Arbuckle, Toot and Puddle and humorous, live action programming like Amazing Animals and Making Stuff. My girls think it’s awesome and the photography mesmerizes them.

National Geographic Kids’ mission is to inspire kids of all ages to learn about the world and provide quality video programming that sparks a child’s curiosity. With a focus on nature, animals, science, global cultures, exploration and adventure, NG Kids wants to keep the whole family engaged with videos even mom & dad like to watch!  Then, continue to learn together by getting outdoors and exploring the great, big world around you.

National Geographic, Roku, Streaming stick, Giveaway

The Roku Streaming Stick makes it easy to enjoy the best selection of streaming entertainment on TV like Netflix and the National Geographic channel as well as many more. With its compact design, the Roku Streaming Stick plugs discreetly into the HDMI port for a streamlined look that’s ideal for wall-mounted TVs like mine.

Once plugged in, the Roku Streaming Stick lets consumers start streaming from more than 1,500 channels of movies, TV episodes, music, news, sports, kids’ shows and free programming – more channels and genres than any other TV streaming device – and all in up to 1080p HD video.

And in celebration of National Geographic’s new channel, the great people at Roku are providing one Roku Streaming Stick for me to giveaway. So, this is a flash giveaway. It will last from now until Monday, July 14, 2014 at 8 pm EST on Monday night. To enter all you have to do is follow me on Pinterest at https://www.pinterest.com/DeborahCruz/ and leave a comment below telling me your favorite show and the Pinterest account you followed me from.

I’m a National Geographic Kids Insider and was provided a Roku streaming stick to give to one of you.

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National Geographic, #WeirdWednesday

As many of you might know, I am a National Geographic Kids Insider!  #NGKInsider I’m honored to be a part of the National Geographic Kids Beta Ambassador program. So far, it’s been amazing going behind the scenes at one of my favorite non-profits. I’ve got to interview LeVar Burton, get pointers from one of National Geographic’s amazing photographers, Kelley Miller, and many other exciting behind the scenes opportunities. My girls love the National Geographic books and magazines because they are interesting and the stunning photos have always caught their attention. So you can imagine their excitement when we received a holiday surprise package in the mail the other day from National Geographic; a box filled with gorgeous Nat Geo Kid books. First Big Book of the Ocean, Ultimate U.S. Road Trip Atlas, Ultimate Weird but true 2, Treasury of Egyptian Mythology, The World is Waiting for YOU, Space Encyclopedia, Ye Olde Weird but True and Ella’s Bath and Animal Creativity book. My girls went wild! The books are absolutely gorgeous and what a fantastic holiday gift for the little bibliophile or adventurer in your family! My first thought was I wish all kids could have these amazing books. Well, guess what? National Geographic Kids has partnered it me and we are going to do just that. On December 4th, National Geographic is declaring Wednesday #WeirdWednesday and will be encouraging the world to take over social media with weird but true facts and photos.  NGK will be crowning Austin, Texas weird but true town of the year. Voting begins for next year’s WBT town at www. Weirdbuttruetown.com. Maybe your town will be crowned in 2014! Are you in? In celebration, we will be hosting a #WeirdWednesday National Geographic Kids Twitter party. It will be at 9 pm EST/ 6 pm EST on Wednesday, December 4th, #WeirdWednesday. We will be giving away loads of great National Geographic books focusing on the Weird But True series. I’d love to invite you to our #WeirdWednesday Twitter Party on Wednesday, December 4th at 6:00 PM PST/ 9:00 PM EST!  We’ll be giving away several National Geographic Kids books during the Twitter Party!!!

WHAT:  National GeoGraphic Kids #WeirdWednesday TWITTER PARTY

WHEN:  WEDNESDAY, DecEMBER 4TH, 2013 FROM 6-7 PM PST/ 9-10 EST

HASHTAG TO USE WHEN TWEETING IT UP:  #Weirdwednesday

WHO TO FOLLOW @TRUTHFULMOMMY (host) AND @NGKids (SPONSOR)  

Awesome Panelists: @Aboutamom @sunandsipcups @mommyPowers @MOmmmyNiri

Weird But True, #WeirdWednesday, National Geographic Kids, National Geographic

PRIZEs: 

10 Weird But True Books (1-5 and Ye Olde Weird But True)

2 Weird But True Collector’s Box sets

1 Ultimate Weird But True

1 Ultimate Weird But True 2

1 Ultimate Weird But True Book Set

1: Grand Prize: The entire Weird But True set – all 5 Weird But True books, Ye Olde Weird But True and Ultimate Weird But True 1 & 2

RSVP:  PLEASE RSVP BELOW.

JOIN IN THE National Geographic kids #WeirdWednesday PARTY For FUN CONVERSATION AND A CHANCE TO WIN These awesome prizes. Don’t forget to post #WeirdWednesday facts and photos on social media!

**Please RSVP with your twitter name and link to qualify for a chance to win a prize during the National Geographic Kids #WeirdWednesday Twitter Party.

**Even if you can’t attend the Twitter Party, you can still enter to win a year subscription to National Geographic Kids or National Geographic Little Kids using the rafflecopter entry below. a Rafflecopter giveaway

National Geographic, Holiday gift guide, holiday gift guide 2013, twitter party, giveaway Disclaimer: I am an #NGKids Insider but I’ve loved National Geographic long before I was an ambassador. I was given the books by National Geographic to review but all opinions are my own.         [/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]

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